Tracy Jackson, 28, who was found dead in Rosedale Dec. 24, died from a brain hemorrhage due to a blow to the head, said…
By Betsy Scheinbart
The deaths of two women in Laurelton in December were officially ruled homicides last week by the medical examiner, police said.
Tracy Jackson, 28, who was found dead in Rosedale Dec. 24, died from a brain hemorrhage due to a blow to the head, said Ellen Borakove, a spokeswoman for the medical examiner.
The body of Angela Worthy, 28, was found five days later on Dec. 29 in Springfield Gardens. Worthy died of “homicidal asphyxia” — suffocation, Borakove said.
Detectives from the 105th Precinct declined to comment on the deaths of the two women, who knew one another.
Newsday quoted unnamed police sources as saying they believed the women were murdered on the same night and their bodies dumped in two separate spots.
The bodies of both women were found in plastic bags, and Worthy’s body was bound and gagged, police said at the time. Both bodies were discovered in wooded areas of Laurelton about eight blocks apart.
The Daily News and the New York Post reported that an unidentified Daily News copy editor and a city employee had been questioned in the two murders.
Three New York daily newspapers referred to the victims as prostitutes in their coverage of the story last week, but police told the Times-Ledger they could not confirm that.
Jackson’s grandmother, Nettie Nunez, was upset that such things were printed about her granddaughter.
“It’s really not nice,” Nunez said. “Everyone that knows her said they didn’t understand why they would say that about her.”
Nunez said her granddaughter may have been arrested many years ago but not anytime close to her death.
Jackson lived with her grandmother in Springfield Gardens after her father died in 1986. She attended Springfield Gardens High School. She had four small children, one born only a month before her death.
At the time of her death, Jackson was living in the home of Russell Pointer in South Jamaica. In a previous interview with the Times-Ledger, Pointer had said Jackson and her boyfriend were staying with him temporarily, but that none of her children were living there with her. Relatives said all her children were in foster care in recent months.
Family and friends said Jackson knew Worthy, who was often called “Star” or “Angie.” It was not known where Worthy lived at the time of her death.
Jackson’s body was discovered on the side of North Conduit Avenue near 244th Street. Worthy’s body was found a few miles away in Springfield Park, on 146th Avenue near Springfield Boulevard and 146th Road.
Reach reporter Betsy Scheinbart by e-mail at Timesledgr@aol.com or call 229-0300 Ext. 138.
